Inquiry Project Report

Nicholas Horton, 2150171

13 June 2017.

My inquiry project for Foundations of Health Education was on the topic of inequality of

health amongst the Indigenous population of Australia, with the demographic consisting of

both men and women aged from 15-30 years old. With the topic being devised from the

thoughts of myself, Marcus and Alexis, our group decided on this topic of research as it

always seems to be relevant - at least throughout all our lives, the fact that the details of

what exactly the gap is between Indigenous Australians and white Australians is not very

well understood by much of the public and because it is a problem that many people in our

position do actually have the ability to change and have a positive effect on.

I believe that when coming up with our topic, we understood the surface information of the

Indigenous health gap, but none of us had ever done further research to uncover the true

impact in which this gap has on the Indigenous population. This is why we all agreed upon

the chosen topic and I feel that now we would all agree that it has broadened our

knowledge and understanding of Indigenous health and the approach to it that entails good

health education amongst the community.

Being a topic that so heavily influences the situation of social health in Australia as a whole

and in individual communities, which can be seen in the way that Australian health reports

make emphasis on the statistics for Indigenous people in the Australian population as a way

of taking responsibility for these horrific figures, Indigenous health is relevant to everyone

living in Australia. Whether you were native to this country, born here after settlement or

have moved here from your native country, seeing these unsettling results has a greater
effect on the Australian people as opposed to a topic such as AIDS in Africa, where there is a

limit to what we, as Australians, can do to help or rather a not so immediate issue. With

this, though, unlike Africa, Australia has a supportive and efficient healthcare system, and if

someone were to argue this point in regards to the Indigenous health gap, I would now

respond with the angle that Indigenous people unfortunately lack the education and access,

especially in remote areas to attain this health care from the Government (Australian

Institute of Health and Welfare 2017). Adding to this, my research in the inquiry project has

helped me to understand the vast range of cultural medicines in which some Indigenous

people still prefer today over modern medicine (Gray, et al., 2014).

I feel that research was, obviously, the main priority in constructing our inquiry project

presentation and while we were unable to attain an interviewee for first-hand evidence, we

brought a diverse range of statistics relevant to all aspects of the gap in Indigenous health.

These statistics ranged from education amongst the Indigenous population to the inability

to buy fresh, healthy food 7 days of the week. When we posed a figure such as only 59% of

Indigenous people completing year 12 or the equivalent in 2012 and 2013 were aged

between 20 and 24, our goal was to make sure that it was understood by our audience how

devastating this statistic is to the entire Indigenous population. Consequently, a large

percentage of Indigenous people have poor education, which then relates back to decisions

such as housing and the ability to attain jobs which then impact money and socio-economic

position (HealthInfoNet 2017; Australians Together 2017). In this sense, I strongly believe

that the more people can understand that one problem amongst the Indigenous population

is interconnected with all these other problems which ultimately creates the health gap, and

the more Australians who do appreciate this concept, then the better off this country will be
in terms of equal living conditions for the white and Indigenous populations. I know first-

hand that understanding this is not easy, as until I started health education at university, I

had a very narrow-minded and naive approach to the Indigenous population and use to

simply believe they were lazy and disinterested in helping themselves to become useful

members of society. I did not understand just how hard it is for the Indigenous population

to excel in our society. However, in terms of their culture, I see them to not necessarily have

the same values to white Australians. Before colonization, Indigenous Australians were

nomadic, lived a simple, placid, communal life, so I feel that being competitive, getting a

good job and making a lot of money is not a high priority for them.

An idea that I have considered over all the topics in health this semester has been the

sociological imagination template. This template enables me to engage with the sociological

perspective if the issue and understand the connection it has within myself and socially,

linking the social issue with my private troubles. With Indigenous health, a template like this

appears to be an effective way to understand the health gap in Australia and the position of

Indigenous people.

The historical factors of Indigenous health would relate back to the colonization of Australia

by European settlers and the organization of penal camps by convicts along with the

dispossession of Australia from the Indigenous people (Australian Government 2015). The

social health of the Indigenous population declined significantly from this point on, where

their mental and physical health underwent rapid change, influenced by the western style of

society (Gray, et al., 2014). Continuing over centuries, the changes made by the government

such as the policy of self-determination in only 1972 would also have strong influence on
the lives of Indigenous people (Gray, et al., 2014). Following on from this, cultural influences

will reflect the obvious cultural differences between the Indigenous and white people,

where a significant deal of respect is required toward the ways of life for the Indigenous

population, where they were believed to be healthier than before the Europeans settled

people (Gray, et al. 2014). This cultural understanding continues today, where more specific

values are understood, including the living conditions of people as individuals and equality

without regard to culture, upbringing or personal beliefs. Structurally, I find that the focus is

solely on Australias people, Indigenous and white. It begins with the role of the country and

those in charge in the Government to take lead in the issue of Indigenous health inequality,

but then as Australians, we can take responsibility of encouraging this action, recognizing

the rights of all people in the Australian population, the way that this action is organized

and highlighting the roles of powerful individuals in combating this issue along with the

roles we individually play in achieving equal health amongst our population. Lastly, the

critical factors would be alternatives to better the health of the Indigenous people rather

than the norm, so again this would entail communities coming together, promoting a

communal approach to an important issue in Australia and motivating our population to

introduce or challenge ways to make Australian health equal. I believe that the Government

has a superior role when it comes to critical factors, but I also feel that without voice from

the Australian people, Australia will not be able to change its approach to promote even

more positivity in its action. Everything I have just talked about makes me realize the

importance of hopefully teaching this as a topic to students one day. The sociological

imagination template addresses citizenship, self-reflection and an analysis of individual

influence on the issue, encourages action and thinking outside of the norm and a serious

understanding and appreciation of Australian history and its traditional people. As described
by Mills, it is a quality of mind that seems most dramatically to promise an understanding

of the intimate realities of ourselves in connection with larger social realities (Germov

2014). Encouraging these qualities, the topic of Indigenous health inequality would, I

believe, be beneficial to developing young, enthusiastic and critically thinking health

students.

Therefore, I can conclude that, as a future educator of health, Indigenous health would be

an ideal topic to study in my class. As a topic with a broad range of points and approaches

for the historical, cultural, structural and critical factors, but presented in a relating and

constrained manner, my students would be able to successfully grasp the long-lasting

problem of the health gap in Australia without becoming too confused or side-tracked with

the topic as a whole.

By taking part in the inquiry project, I gained the knowledge and recognized that in all

health-related social issues, an investigation and analysis of such depth is required if I aim to

become a qualified health educator to ensure that I am not misinforming those students

who aim to be knowledgeable about health on a global level through my teaching.

Conducting extensive research into the factors of Indigenous health and the reason there

remains a gap between them and white Australians has filled many gaps in my knowledge. I

have successfully engaged with the Australian health issue and have gained a far more in-

depth understanding and broader approach to Indigenous health inequality as a social issue,

which in turn, has allowed me to consider the topics of the public health system and the

social approach to health care from different cultural backgrounds in relation to the

Indigenous population.
Word count: 1523.

The link to my Weebly health education website is:

http://nicholassjourneythroughealthed.weebly.com/

Works cited:

Gray, D., Saggers, S., Stearne, A. (2014). Indigenous Health: The Perpetuation of Inequality.
In J. Germov (Ed.), Second Opinion: An Introduction to Health Sociology (4th ed., pp. 147-
162). Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.

Germov, J. (2014). Imagining Health Problems as Social Issues. In J. Germov (Ed.), Second
Opinion: An Introduction to Health Sociology (4th ed., pp. 5-22). Melbourne, Vic: Oxford
University Press.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017). Australias Health 2014. Retrieved from
http://www.aihw.gov.au/australias-health/2014/indigenous-health/

HealthInfiNet. (2015). Review of nutrition and growth among Indigenous peoples. Retrieved
from http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-risks/nutrition/plain-language/our-
review

Australians Together. (2017). The Gap: Indigenous Disadvantage in Australia. Retrieved from
http://www.australianstogether.org.au/stories/detail/the-gap-indigenous-disadvantage-in-
australia

Australian Government. (2015). European Discovery and the Colonisation of Australia.

Retrieved from http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/european-
discovery-and-colonisation